Florida Huddle 2016, recently held at the Tampa Convention Center, was a resounding success in its third year of being owned and operated by VISIT FLORIDA. Three high scores for this travel trade show continue to tell the story of Florida Huddle: more buyers, more time for appointments, more Florida travel business transactions. Hosted by Visit Tampa Bay, the show was sold out, reflecting the tourism industry’s interest in the show.

The 678 delegates at Florida Huddle 2016 represented 396 companies from around the world. More than 220 qualified buyers were in attendance to broker deals with Florida’s travel suppliers. They traveled to the event from across the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, India, China, Spain, the Bahamas, Brazil, Honduras, Ireland, Mexico, The Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

The bustling trade-show floor exhibited 229 appointment-taking suppliers presenting information about their destinations, products and services. Florida Huddle business transactions took place over two full days, allowing buyers and suppliers to conduct 14,658 face-to-face meetings. A 1:1 ratio of appointment-taking buyers and suppliers was maintained to ensure delegates had full, productive appointment schedules.

On day two, VISIT FLORIDA’s Public Relations team hosted Partners for a Meet & Greet event, placing 33 media from 7 countries with public relations pros from Florida destinations. Thirteen PR partners participated in this opportunity, which designated 90 minutes in a reserved space for one-on-one meetings with the media. Media and PR representatives resoundingly endorsed the format as a highly effective way to build relationships and supply information leading to destination coverage in editorial media outlets.

In conjunction with Visit Tampa Bay, VISIT FLORIDA also hosted three activity tracks for media so they were able to explore the city while in town for Huddle. Journalists had the option to visit the manatee viewing center, taste the culinary creations at some of Tampa’s most famous locally-owned restaurants and ride in the front seat of the only driverless car open to the public at the Museum of Science and Industry.

Special thanks to the destination sponsor of Florida Huddle 2016, Visit Tampa Bay, as well as all other sponsors. Next year, Florida Huddle is being held Jan. 9-12 at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. For more about Florida Huddle, go to FloridaHuddle.com.